F" 




AFFAIRS IN KANSAS. 



F 685 
.G881 
Copy 1 



SPEECH 

OF 

J 




HON. GALUSIIA Af GROW, OF PENFA, 



DELIVERED 



IN THE- HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MARCH 5, 1856, 

nfs Jlnnudl Message being vnder consideration in the Commillce of the 
Whole on the state of the Union. 



Mr. GROW said; 

Mr. Chaiumav: Rumors of a prospect of civil 

'ar ill the Territory of Kansas Iiavc reached us, 

nd filled tiic public mind with gloomy appre- 

•icnsion. The President in his annual message 

iformed \\n, that "in the Territory of Kansas 

re had been acts prejudicial to good order," but 

'glected to tell what those acts were; and at a 

ter day he informed this House by special mes- 

igc that there had been " acts, plcdnbj against law, 

■■ hich now threaten the peace not only of the 

'erritory of Kansas, but of the Union. '' It be- 

• )mes the imperative duty of Congress, then, to 

! iquire into the causes of this state of things, and 

ivise if possible some means by which to avert 

) dire a calamity. 

Congress being the supreme legislative power 
■r the Territories, giving them their organic law, 
cccutive and judicial olTicers, and prescribing 
10 mode and manner of the exercise of all their 
gislative functions, it is our first duty tj see that 
iC inhabitants thereof are secure in the enjoy- 
icnt of all the rights and privileges guarantied 
' American freemen everywhere under the pro- 
ciion of the Republic. 

The acts which the President regarded as 
ireatening the peace not only of the Territory 
■ Kansas, but of the Union, are summed up in 
paragraph of his me.ssage : 

" Persons confesscdJy not constituting the body politic or 
I tho inhabitants, but merely a parly of the inhabitants, and 
itiiout law, have undertaken to summon a convention for 
e purpose of transforming the Territory into a State, and 
ive formed a constitution, adopted it, and under it elected 
Governor and other ofiicers, and a Representative to Con- 
ess;" 

! of which ho pronounces illegal and ofrevolu- 
onary character. Sir, tho doing of any or all the 
•its in this enumeration would be no violation of 
ist law or constitutional right; for the people, 
r any part of them, of a State or Territory 
ave a perfect right peaceably to assemble, at 
ay time, and deposit their votes for any person 
ley please, with such designation of office as 
ley choose to afiix; and unless they, or the 



person so chosen, commit some overt act against 
the Government under which they live, thev have 
violated no law and are amenable for no o'ffensie, 
any more than they would be to assemble and dis- 
cuss theirgrievanccs, and petition for their redress. 
In Rhode Island, where there was no question as 
to the regularity of the existing government — for 
it had existed for almost two centuries — a call 
for a convention to form a new constitution was 
issued by persons confessedly not constituting t!te 
body pcUiic, and unthout lavj, for the purpose of 
transforming a charter government into a State. 
They formed a constitution, adopted it, and under 
it elected a Governor and other officers, and a 
Representative to Congress. The members of 
the Legislature met, swore to support the now 
constitution, and the oath of office was adminis- 
tered to the Governor, and his message transmitted 
to the Legislature. None of these acts were con- 
considered as illegal by the constituted authorities 
of Rhode Island; and no arrests were made till 
Dorr called out a military force to uphold his gov- 
ernment. 

The people of Kansas have thus far done only 
what was done in Rhode Island previous to an 
appeal to arms. Are acts that are harmless when 
performed in a State illegal and treasonable when 
performedunderlike circumstances in aTerritory.' 
It was not thought so by the country in the case of 
the admission of Michigan into the Union, where 
a convention of the people, called tou'/tout law, ac- 
cepted certain conditions of Congress which had 
just been rejected by a convention of dclegateg 
assembled under authority of an act of the Legisla- 
ture. Eut,sir,thc undoubtedrightof the people of 
a Territory to call a State convention, without any 
act of the Territorial Legislature or of Congress, 
for the purpose of transforming a Territory into 
a State, and to elect all the officers necessary to 
administer such State government, has been set- 
tled not only by the practice of the Government, 
but by the opiiiion of one of its ablest legal offi- 
cers and constitutional advisers of the President. 
During General Jackson's administration the 
Governor of the Territory of Arkansas addressed 
him a letter soliciting instructions for his guitlanee 



in case the people of said Territory should 
elect delegates to a convention without a law of 
the Legislature, and organize and put in opera- 
tion a "state government without authority of 
Congress. Th.e Governor informed the Presi- 
dent that, unless othe^rwise instructed, he should 
feel " bound to consider and treat all such pro- 
ceedings as unlawful." The President— for Gen- 
eral Jackson, it seems, had not adopted the 
" great principles of popular sovereignty," estab- 
lished by the compromise measures of 18.50— re- 
plied, through his Attorney General, B. F. Butler, 
on the 2Jst of September, 1835, that 

"It is not ill tlio power of the General Assembly of Ar- 
kansas to pass any law for the purpose of electing members 
to a convention to form a con:-t!tution and State govern- 
ment, nor to do any other act, directly or indirectly, to 
create such new government. Every such law, even 
tlioush it were approved by the Governor of the Territory, 
would be null and void." 

The people of a Territory have an undoubted 
right at any time to call a convention, frame and 
ado]it a State constitution, and elect all oflicers 
necessary to its action as an independent State, 
tliough it might be a question whether they could 
perform any official act as State officers until the 
action of Congress, though Michigan enacted 
laws and voted for Prcside'it before she was ad- 
mitted as a State into the Union. But the State 
must be formed before her admission; for it is 
States that are admitted, under the third section 
of the fourth jirticlc of the Constitution, and not 
Territories. Upon this point, I read from the 
opinion'of the Attorney General in the Arkansas 
case: 

" This provision implies that the new State shall have 
been constituted by the settlement of a constitution or frame 
of government, and by the appointment of those official 
agents wliich are indispensable to its action as a State, and 
especially to its action as a member of the Union, prior to 
its admission into the Union. In accordance with this 
implication, every State received into the Union since the 
adoption of the Federal Constitution has been actually 
organized prior to such admission." 

Now, I desire to call particular attention to the 
part of this opinion which applies directly to the 
people of Kansas; and had it been written ex- 
pressly for their case, it could not have been more 
applicable. In defining the rights of the citizens 
of Arkansas, he says: 

" They undoubtedly possess the orduiary priWlcges and 
iownunities of citizens of the United States. Among these 
is the right of tlie people, ' peaceably to assemble and to 
petition the Government for the redress of grievances.' In 
the exercise of this right, the inhabitants of Arkansas may 
peaceably meet togcUier in primary assembly, or in conven- 
tions chosen by such assembhes, for the purpose of pe- 
titioning Congress to abrogate the territorial government, 
and to admit them into tlte Union as an independent State. 
The particular form which they may give to their petition 
cannot be material so long as they confine themselves to the 
mere right of petitioning and conduct all Oieir proceedings 
in a peaceable manner. And as the power of Congress 
over the whole subject is plenary and unlimited, they may 
accept any constitution, however framed, which in their 
judgment meets the sense of the people to be affected by i't. 
If, therefore, the citizens of Arkansas think proper to ac- 
comp;iiiy ibc'r petition by a written constitution, framed and 
agreed u.i by their priii;:uy assemblies, or b> a conveiiliou 
of delegates chosen by such assemblies, I perceive no legal 
objection to their power to do so." 



But, it may be said that this doctrine will not 
apply to Kansas, for there it is merely a party 
of the inhabitants who called the co)ivention. Iii 
all cases the call, in the first instance, must 
be by a part of the people; for it would be al- 
most an impossibility to get the signatures of all 
the inhabitants of a Territory. The call is.sued 
for a State convention in Kansas was in this 
form': 

" To the Lc^al Voters of Kansas: 

" Whereas the torrritorial government as now constitun 1 
for Kansas has proved a failure— squatter sovereignty under 
its workings a miserable delusion, in proof of which it i?- 
only necessary to refer to our past history and our presen. 
deplorable condition ; our ballot-boxes have been takeii 
possession of by a band of armed men from foreign States ; 
our people forcibly driven therefrom ; persons attempted to 
be foisted upon us as members of a so-called Legislature, uh 
acquainted witli our wants, and hostile to our best interests — 
some of them never residents of our Territory; misnamed 
latvs passed, and now attempted to be enforced by the aid 
of citizens of foreign States, of the most oppressive, tyran- 
ical, and insulting character; the right of suffrage taken fron i 
us; debarred from the privilege of a voice in the electiO! 
of even the most insignificant officers; the right of fre< 
speech stifled; the muzzling of the press attempted: Am 
whereas longer forbearance with such oppression ant 
tyranny has ceased to be a virtue : and whereas the people 
of this country have heretofore exercised the right of 
changing their form of government when it became op- 
pressive, and have, at all times, conceded this right to tite 
people in this and all other Governments : and whereas 
a territorial form of government is unknown to the Consti- 
tution, and is the mere creature of necessity awaiting tlit 
action of the people : and whereas the debasing character 
of the slavery which now involves us impels to action, and 
leaves us, as the only legal and peaceful alternative, the im- 
mediate establishment of a State government: and whereas 
the organic act fails in pointing out the course to be adopted 
in an emergency like ours : Therefore, you are requested 
to meet at your several precincts in said Territory lierein- > 
after mentioned, on tlie second Tuesday of October next, it 
being the ninth day of said month, and then and there cast 
your ballots for members of a convention, to meet at To- 
peka on the fourth Tuesday in October next, to form a con- 
stitution, adopt a bill of rights for the people of Kansas, 
and take aU needful measures for organizing a State gov- 
ernment jireparatorij to the admission of Kamas into the 
Union as a State." 

Under it all the legal voters of the Territory 
could participate ; and who shall say that a majority 
of them did not.' The fact that it was necessary 
for the pro-slavery party at a later day to summon 
armed men from Missouri, is almost conclusive 
evidence that a majority of the people of the Ter- 
ritory are in favor of the free State movement. 
But to give validity to the action of the people of a 
Territory in any act which they have a right to do . 
it is not necessary that they should be unanimous, - 
any more than it is necessary, in order to give 
validity to a law of a State, that every voter 
should be in favor of it. Majorities, under our 
system of government, constitute the people, and 
their action is the action of the people. 

The members of the convention were elected af 
the same time and by about the same vote as the 
free-State Delegate to Congress, and he received 
almost three thousand votes at a time when there 
was uo occasion for illegal voting. Judging by 
the cnsus, ;uid the oth.er elections held in .l ■• 
Territory, that would be a majority of the Ieg:il 
voters. If the proceedings for a State convention 



!>'- 



were participated in by a party only, how did it 
liappoi) tliat the delegates did not all hold one 
sentinioiit on the all-absorbing question before 
tlipui — tliat of slavery? Many of the delegates in 
that convention were never suspected of being 
Abolitionists or Frue-Soilers before they went to 
the Territory, and some of them were well-known 
to the country as earnest advocates of the Kansas- 
Nebraska bill and of all the measures of this Ad- 
ministration. 

But wliy was it necessary for the people of 
Kansas at this early day after their organization 
as a Territory to call a convention to frame a State 
constitution ? What are the grievances that they 
seek in this way to redress? They claim that 
under the act of Congress organizing the Terri- 
tory they were to luive the right to form and 
regulate their domestic institutions in their own 
way; but, instead of that, a Legislature was 
(elected by non-residents, the ballot-box seized 
by armed bands of men from Missouri, and peace- 
able citizens of the Territory were driven by vio- 
lence from the polls or shot down in cold blood. 

The President has failed, though devoting an 
entire message to Kansas, to give us any informa- 
tion as to the mode or manner in wliich that elec- 
tion was conducted, but seemed more anxious to 
discuss questions involved in the contested seat 
of a Delegate on this floor, and to show, if pos- 
sible, inconsistencies of conduct in one of the 
otHcials whom he had appointed to office in that 
Territory. We are, therefore, left to rely on the 
history of those transactions as they have reached 
us through the press and by private correspond- 
ence. But tliat the election was a fraud, and the 
Legislature a usurpation imposed upon the actual 
settlers of Kansas, is as well established as that 
there was an election hold; for wo have no dif- 
ferent or better means of information of the one 
than of the other. 

The census of the Territory was taken in Feb- 
ruary, and the election was in the following March. 
By the census there were but about three thou- 
sand legal voters. Yet, at the election about six 
thousand votes were polled, while a large number 
of residents did not vote, owing to the threatened 
violence of the election ; and every member elected 
to the Legislature at that time, save one, belonged 
to the pro-slavery party. Is it to be supposed 
that, at a fair election in that Territory, but one 
free-State man would be elected to the Legis- 
lature out of thirty-nine members, and that he 
should be in the district furthest removed fi-om 
Missouri? 

But passing by the election for members of the 
Legislature, I desire to call attention to their of- 
icial acts, for these are the first fruits of pop- 
ilar sovereignty, as established by the repeal of 
he Missouri compromise. Without inquiring 
nto Uic validity of that Legislature on account of 
he mode of its election, or by reason of its chang- 
ng the seat of government to Sh.awnee Mission, 
he legislation itself is a sufficient justification for 
he free-State men of Kansas to appeal , in the mode 
hey have adopted, to Congress, to secure to them 
heir riglits ;uid privileges. 

This Legislature, imposed upon Kansas by 
lOn-residents, has disfranchised a large class of 
;s citizens, and deprived them of the right of 
olding office, or of practicing as attornoys-at- 
iw in the courts, by imposing, as a condition, 



unwarranted oaths to support particular laws of 
Congress or of the Legislature, thereby destroy- 
ing freedom of opinion and the right of private 
judgment as to the constitutionality of the laws 
of the country, which is the birthright of an 
American citizen. 

Mr. SMITH, of Virginia. Q.uote the acts. 

Mr. GROW. That is what I propose to do. 
The voter if required must swear, in addition to 
other things, to sustain the fugitive slave law be- 
fore he can vote — an unheard-of requisition to 
require a voter anywhere under our form of 
government to swear to support any particular 
law as a condition to vote; for in most cases 
the very object of his going to the polls is to 
secure the rc:peal or modification of such laws as 
he considers unconstitutional or unjust. And 
every person elected or appointed to office in the 
Territory must take the same oath. To be ad- 
mitted to practice as attorney in the coiirts the 
applicant must swear to " support the Constitu- 
tion of the United States, and to support and sws- 
tain the provisions of an act entitled an act to or- 
ganize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas, 
and the provisions of an act commonly known as 
the fugitive slave law," and to which I under- 
stand the court has added all the laws of the Ter- 
ritorial Legislature. 

The Legislature has appointed or provided for 
the appointment of all officers not already ap- 
]iointed by the General Government, for terms of 
from two to five years, including sheriffs, consta- 
bles, justices of thepeace, county commissioners, 
and election boards. So that there is not an offi- 
cer in the Territory of Kansas to-day, of any 
kind or description, civil, military, or judicial, 
except the thirteen members of the council, who 
hold their oflice for two years, in the selection 
of which the people of the Territory have had 
any voice, nor can they have under present reg- 
ulations till the fall of 1857. The Legislature has 
prolonged its own existence by legislative act till 
the 1st of January, 1858, so there can be no 
change in the laws till after that time. This is 
the popular sovereignty that leaves the people 
perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic 
instUutions in their own uiaij. And under these 
circumstances the people of Kansas are assured 
by the President that "the constitutional means 
of relieving the people of unjust administration 
and laws by a change of public agents and by 
repeal are ample." 

But, in addition to invading the right of private 
judgment, and of depriving the people of all voice 
in the selection of their rulers, the Legislature has 
struck down freedom of speech, freedom of the 
press, and the inalienable rights of men, and en- 
acted into law a despotism as galling, if not as 
odious, as that of the House of Hapsburg. The 
rights of freemen are trampled under foot, while 
the right to slave property is shielded and pro- 
tected by the highest sanctions of law. 

The penalty for advising or assisting an ap- 
prentice to run away from his master is a fine of 
not less than* 1^20, nor more than |)500; but for 
enticing or carrying away a slave, death, or ten 
years' im))risonment. 

For harboring or concealing an apprentice, one 
dollar for each day's concealment; but for har- 
boring or concealing a slave, not less than five 
years' imprisonment at hard labor. 



For advising or persuading tin apprentice to rebel 
R£^inst or assault his master, not less than ;^20, nor 
niore than §500 ; but for advising or persuading a 
slave to rebel, dealh. 

Kidnappinfc a free man and selling him into 
slavery, an offense that should receive the severest 
punishment known to the criminal calendar, un- 
less it be for taking life — and 1 know not as that 
should be excepted; for what graver offense 
against the laws of a civilized community could be 
committed, than to seize a peaceable citizen re- 
posing upon its protection, and place upon him 
the chain and the manacle, and then consign him 
to hopeless bondage — yet the penalty for such 
an oll'ense under the laws of Kansas is not to 
exceed ten years'iniprisonmcnt; while <Zea</t is the 
penalty for aiding or assisting in persuading a slave 
to obtain his freedom. 

For decoying and carrying away a child under 
twelve years of age, in order to detain or conceal 
it from its parents, imprisonment not to exceed 
five years, or six months in county jail, or fine 
of $500, at the discretion of the court. Even the 
innocence and helplessness of childhood finds less 
protection under the sanction of these laws than 
IS given to the right of pi-operty claimed in the 
souls and bodies of men. 

A Member. Tlieydo not sell the souls. 

j\'Ir. GROW. Can it be separated at the auc- 
tion block } Does it.not go with the body in this 
world's pilgrimage, till it passes the dark valley? 
Mr. Chairman, 1 have contrasted some of these 
laws for the jnirpose of showing what kind of 
protection is thro v»rn around the rights of freemen, 
compared with that given to a particular species 
of propi.'rty. 

General Slringfellow, in a letter to the Mont- 
gomery (Alabama) Advertiser, uses this language 
as to the character of the laws of the teri'itory in 
reference to slavery: 

" Tliey liave now laws more efficient to protect slave 
property iliaii any fcftato in the Union. Tlicse laws have 
jii.st taken elTect, and liave already silenced Abolitionists; 
lor, in spite of their lieretolbre boftsting, they know they 
will be enforced to the very letter and with the utmost rigor. 
Not only is it prolitablc for slaveliolders to go to Kiinsas, 
but politically it is all-important." 

Not content with enacting lav/s more efficient 
to protect slave property than any State in the 
Union, they attempt to stifle freedom of speech 
and of the press by enacting that — 

" Jf any person print, write, introduce into, or publish or 
circulate, or cause to be brought into, printed, written, pub- 
lished, or circulated, or shall knowingly aid or assist in 
bringing into, printing, publishing, or circulating within 
this Territory, any book, paper, pamphlet, magazine, hand- 
bill, or circular, containing any statements, arguments, 
<>l)inion, sentiment, doctrine, advice, or innuendo, calcu- 
lated to produce a disorderiy, dangerous, or rebellious dis- 
affi'ction among the slaves in this Territory, or to induce 
such slaves to escape from the service of their masters, or 
to resist their authority, shall be guilty of felony, and be 
punished by imprisonment at hard labor for a term not less 
than five years. 

•' If any free person, by speaking or \Vriting, assert or 
iiialulain that persons have not the right to hold slaves in 
tliis Territory, or shall introduce into this Territory, print, 
publish, write, circulate, or cause to be introduced into this 
'I'crritory, written, jirinted, publi.-hed, or circulated in this 
Territory, any book, [laper, magazine, pamphlet, or cir- 
cular, containing any denial of the right of persons to hold 
s.aves in this Territory, such person shall be deemed guilty 



of felony, and punished by imprLsoiunent at bard labor tbt 
a term not less than two years. 

"No person who is conscientiously opposed to holding 
slaves, or who does not admit the right to hold slaves in 
this Territory, shall sit as a juror on the trial of any pros- 
ecution for any violation ofanv of the sections of this act." 
[Signed] J. jl. STRINGFELLOW, 

Syeal:er of the House. . 
THO.MAS JOHNSON, i 
President of the Couucii. 

Such are some of the laws of the Territory 
of Kansas wliich the President has announcet 
must be enforced at the point of the bayonet, if 
necessary. The first gun fired by the armies of 
the Republic in such a cause would be but the ccIm 
of the British musketry in the streets of Boston 
on the 19th of April, 1775, and its flash wouW 
light a flame that the floods of the " father o. 
waters" could not extinguish. 

Should a despot of the Old World issue a.. 
edict that any of his subjects who should declai ; 
that lie had not a divine right to rule, to impriso ; 
and to kill, should be incarcerated in the du) 
geon, and that any one should be incompetei 
to try the accused unless he believed in the divii 
right of kings, would not an execration go i 
from the heart of civilization deep and bitter as tl . 
waiiings of the damned; and his name would he; ' 
the infamous roll of the world's Neros, Gesslci 
and Haynaus; yet in the heart of the Repub ; 
American citizens are to-day required to siibn 
to an enactment in the form of law not kssodioi. 

It is 10 free themselves from such wrongs, a ; 
that they may enjoy the common rights of Aine 
can freemen, that the people of Kansas hs 
peaceably assembled and formed a constituti( 
in order to petition Congress for a redress 
grievances. 

The President informed us, rn his special m 
sage, that associations were fornied in some of < 
States to promote emigration to Kansas, wh '. 
"awakened emotions of intense indignation ,■ 
States near to the Territory of Kansas, and cs ■ 
cially in the adjoining State of Missouri." W i 
this indignation at any effort to furnish settler • 
the Territory, and thus to peoj^le the wildcrnt; 
For the first time in the history of the country 
any cflbrt to facilitate the settlement of new St; 
excited indignation anywhere. But the pra 
of the patriot and the i^hilanthropist has ever 
lowed the hardy pioneer, as he went fort! 
subdue the forest and convert the lair of the a 
beast into a home for civilized man. 

But the reason assigned for the special in . 
nation of the people of Missouri is, that t " 
"domestic peace was the most directly em • 
gcred." Sir, how could the domestic peaci i»' 
any section of this Union be endangered by buih' 
ingup new States in the wilderness, and cove m-. : 
its desert v/aste with the hotnes of civilized ii«' . 
Though the President failed to give us that 
formation. General Atchison has, in a li'tte 
the Atlanta (Georgia) Examiner, dated Pl*<'' 
City, December 15, 1855: 

" Kansas and Missouri have the same latitude, cliP 
and soil, and should havetlic same institutions. The], 
and prosperity of both depend upon it. Kansas must ■' • 
slave inslituliom, or Missouri inwt liavcfrce instituli' 
hence the interest Uie " border rullians" lake in K*i f 
affairs. 

" If the settlement of Kansas had been left to the 
which govern eniigruiion, it would have been a slave '' 



yas certainly as Missouri is a slave State; but inasmuch 
those laws have been violated and perverted by the force 
monoy, and a powerful organization in the North and 
St, it becomes tin; South ' to be up and doing,' and to 
id in a population to counteract the North. 
'• Let your VBuni; nien coiue forth to Missouri and Kansas ! 
t thera come well armed, with money enough to support 
m for twelve months, and determined to see this thing 
! One hundred true men will be an aequL-ition. The 
re the better. X do not see liovv we are to avoid civil 
I r; come it will. Twelve mouths will not elapse before 
f— civil war of the fiercest kind— will be upon us. We 
arming and preparing for it. Indeed, we of the border 
nties are prepared. We must have tlie support of the 
.til. We arefighlingUu hultles of the South. Our insU- 
insat^e at stake. You far soulhom men are now out of 
naive of the war, but, if we fail, it will reach your own 
•s, perhaps your hearths. We want men, armed men. 
wai^ money — not for ourselves, but to support our 
ids tviio may come from a distance." 

; 3 the domestic peace of Missouri cndanjjcrod, 

1, by an effort to make Kan-sas a free State.' j 

the insljiutions of Missouri and the South i 

':ed on tlie issuowhethcr a free State shall join ! 

%\e State on the v/est.' Then the only vital ' 

3tion in the politics of the day is freedom or i 

ery to Kansas; for its destiny is to shape and j 

rol that of all the territory west of it to the i 

fie. For, with slavery established in Kansas, I 

istitutions,. as well as those of the South, will ! 

: ist as insecure with a free State on ks western i 

i' eras would be Missouri with Kansas free, j 

moving cause, it seem.'?, then, for abrogating 

•estriction on slavery in this vast territory, | 

consecrated to freedom, was to plant upon 

f:(in soil the institutions of human bondage, |i 

u the domestic peace of the southern States \\ 

t not be endangered. |i 

e repeal of the Missouri compromise v/as, 'j 

its-inception, a consjiiracy against freedom. II 

noving cause that abrogated this time-hon- t' 

estriction was to secure "the introduction and I i 

ishment of slavery, so as to prevent, if pos- !| 

a free StatcT bordering a slave State on the i 

For but one Territory was needed for all i; 

3es of fair settlement; and such was the form | { 

bill first introduced. Yet it was afterward.? ' ' 

i without any apparent reason, unless it 

enable slavery the more easily to make its 

Y vvas Kansas intrenched and hemmed in 
r by the State of Missouri, and restricted 
nail area compared v/ith Nebraska, with 
igmary line for its northern boundary, 
he Platte river, a few miles further north, 
' great natural boundary that should have 
the two, if a division was to be made' 
bc'cause that would briiig a part of Kansas 
; Iowa, so that freemen could reach the 
y without the necessity of passing th rough 
state .' Why was the clause always be- 
erted in every territorial bill since the 
n of the Government, requiring the laws 
erritory to be submitted to the super- 
Congress, omitted in this.' Then, when 
3omes for electing the Legislature, which | 
irse, to give shape, by its action, to the ' 
ns of the infant State,, it is .secured to ! 
ytin invasion of non-residents, and then i 
Je legislation to which I have referred: I 
acts, all pointing, from the first, to the I 
ation of one object— the fulfillment of 1 



the prophecy of General Atchison, made in the 
Senate of the United States, that if the Missouri 
compromise was repealed Kansas would be a 
j I slave State. And he has insisted upon that 
I opinion from that day to this. 
jl In addition to all this, the Secretary of the 
jj Territory, who is required by act of Congress to 
,i transmit " one copy of the laws and journals of 
j the Legislative xVssembly within thirty days after 
j.thc end of each session, and one copy of the 
! executive ])rocoedings and official correspondence 
j; semi-annually," to the President, and copies of 
jj the laws to the Senate and Houne of Jlepresenta- 
jtives, to be deposited in the libraries of Con- 
hgre.ss, has iiegl(^cted entirely to send the laws 
j to Congress, or to furnish the President with the 
. executive proceedings. If so, the President has 
, not transmitted them to the Senate, in answer to 
; their call for them, and has not answered a call 
matle by this House more than three weeks since 
So I take it for granted that they have not been 
iurmshed by the secretary of the Territory, aa 
I required by law. So, no information of the 
doiiij^s of the Territory reaches us officially till a 
I late day, and then we are furnished only such 
part as the officials choose to give. But th'is nc- 
I Icct onthe part of one of the officials of the Ter- 
, ritory is passed by unnoticed by the President, 
while he removes other officers for alleged dere- 
liction of duty. Now, if the gentleman from 
Virginia [Mr. Ssiitii] v/ishes it, I will yield to 
him. -^ 

Mr. SMITH, of Virginia. I do not desire to 
interrupt the gentleman at this point; I merely 
made the remark— rather st'Ti roi:a than otherwise- 
—that I did not understand why the gentleman 
should complain of the Secretary of the^Territory 
for failing to put tlie House and the country in 
possession of the territorial lavvs, v/hen I found 
him using those laws and arguing upon them. I 
tnought It was rather unnecessary fault-finding. 

Mr. GROW. I suppose, then, Mr. Chairman, 
that it would not be necessaiy for the officials of 
the Government to do their official duty because 
the information they might communicate could be 



I obtained m some other way. I take it tor granted 
J that, wlien the organic law requires an officer of 
j the Territory to do a certain duty, you have a 
] right to co.mplain if he fails to perform that duty, 
I even though you may obtain the information by 
some other means. 

j But to return from the digression into which I 
have been drawn by the gentleman's remark. 
I It seems, then, that but one object has actuated 
[ this whole' movement, from the inception of the 
j repeal of the Missouri compromise, and that hag 
j been to supplant free labor and free institutions, 
i in order to establish slavery on the soil of Kansas. 
! Why are men broi^ght there face to face with 
: the bayonet in their hands and deadly hostility 
in their hearts.' Governor Shannon, in his dig- 
patch to the President, giving an account of the 
troubles at Lawrence, says: 

'' The excitement increased and spread, not only through- 
out this whole Territory, but was worked up to the utmost 
point of uitensity in the whole of the ujiper portion of 
Missouri. Armed men were seen rushing lioin all (luarters 
towards Lawrence, some to defend tlie place and others to 
demolish it." 

"Men rush with arms to demolish it!" From 
where.' The State of Missouri. What interest 



6 



has Missouri in enforcing the laws of Kansas 
more than the State of Ohio, or Virginia? Gen- 
eral Atchison tolls us: Slave institutions for Kan- 
sas or free institutions for Missouri. Slavery in 
Kansas secures slavery forever in Missouri. 
This is the motive which brings from Missouri 
men to preserve law and order in Kansas. From 
the description in another part of this l(;tter, the 
" law and order " that such men would preserve 
is like 'the protection the wolf would give the 
lamb. In another part of the dispatch he says: 

" I found in tlio camp at Wakarusa a ilecpand settled feel- 
ing of hostilit'j ag,•lill^t the opimsiiig forces in Lawrence, and 
apparently a fixed determination to attack that place and 
demolish it and the presses, and take possession of their 
arras. 

" To issue an order to the shcritTto disband his posse, and 
to Generals Ricliar(l>on and StrieUler to disband their 
forces, would have been to let loose this largo body of men, 
who would have been left without control to follow the' 
impulse of their feelings, which evidently was to attack and 
disarm the people of Lawrence." I 

Those are the men who go forth to enforce law 
and order, and to preserve peace and quiet in one 
of the Territories of the Union. They come for 
what? To demolish a town, to burn its houses, 
and drive out its citizens from their homes at the 
point of the bayonet. 

Why is Missouri fghttng the batllesofthe South; 
and how are her institutions at stake in the issue 
of slavery or freedom in Kansas ? The capital 
invested m any one kind of property has always 
a common iiiterest, and is moved by a common 
motive. The three million slaves in the South, at 
an average price of $500 each, makes a capital of 
^1,500,000,000. But, in addition, it is the same 
interest that owns the landed and personal proji- 
erty jsothatthe moneyed intcrcstof the South that 
acts together by a common sympathy probably 
exceeds §4,000,000,000. Whatever, tlien, tends 
to enhance the market value of the slave moves 
this mighty interest with a common impulse. 
A moneyed interest in any country always strug- 
gles to seize upon its Government, and to wield 
it for its own advantages. Hence the innovations 
on the early and well-established policy of the 
Government in restricting slavery where it had 
not an actual existence. Hence the efforts now 
making to overturn the settled decisions of the 
courts, and to nationalize the institution of sla- 
very under the new doctrine, that the Constitution 
carries it wherever its jurisdiction extends unless 
there be local law to prevent it. 

The Democracy of the country, in the days of 
its glory and triumph, resisted the attempt of the 
moneyed interest of the country , invested in bank- 
ing, to seize upon this Government to use it for 
its own purposes. They also resisted the attempt 
of the moneyed interest engaged in manufacturing 
to use the Government for its purposes. And yet 
here is a united, concentrated moneyed interest — 
compared to which either of those was but as a d rop 
in the bucket to the ocean — endeavoring to use this 
Government for the promotion of its interests and 
the advancement of its ends. Now, sir, it is. to 
resist any such attempt, on the part of the moneyed 
interest invested in slaves, that the people whom 
I represent resist all attempts to plant slavery in 
Kansas. 

Regarding it, as did the fathers of the R.epub- 
lic,as a social and political evil, that retards the 



I growth and development of a count^'y by 
i grading its labor, they believe it to be tlie 
'■ of Congress to do in reference to the TGcrit 
I what Madison desired it to do moie than a 
, century ago in reference to the foreign slave t 
I In urging its abolition he says: ^ 
I " The dictates of humanity, the principles of tiie j 
the national safety and happiness, and prudent pol 
quire it of us. 

j " It is to be hoped that,by expressing a national die 
I bation of this trade, we may destroy it, and save ou 
I from reproaches, and our posterity the imbcciJit 
attending on a country filled with slaves." 

And here, sir, I desire to read an extract 
a speech of mine in the last Congress on tl 
braska bill: 

" But it is said that these Territories are common p 
and that all the citizens of the United States have c 
rights in them ; and that, therefore, no citizen cai 
eluded from emigrating to them without injustice an 
dation. No one proposes to exclude any person fn . 
grating and settling on the public domain. The T 
it is true, is the common property of the whole pei 
by the Federal Constitution they agreed to put it 
supervisory power. Tliat power is Congress ; Co 
made a board of direction over this trust fund, to • 
such way as, in their sound discretion, will be mot 
tageous to the trust, and will best accomplish the ■ 
its creation, the promotion of the real and pennam 
ests of the country. Whoever goes into the 1 
therefore, as a settler, must conform to the ' rules ; 
lations' established by this supervisory boanl, ci 
the common consent and agreement of the whole 
and made one of the articles of compact. No pi 
any separate, distinct individual right that he cai 
apart as his share to use as he pleases, any mor 
can take Iiis share of the President's House, or ol 
itol, and appropriate it to his own use. It can be 
in such way as, in the judgment of Congress, wi 
to tlie advantage of the whole." 

If, then, this Government .should see 
Territories are used in such way as bcs 
mote the paramount interest of the coi 
i develop its physical strength and the ir 
j sources of its people, free labor can ao- •. 
i it better than slave. For slavery, wb 
1 goes, bears a sirocco in front, and leaves 
' in the rear. Under slave labor, the soil, 
I the means for supporting the human 
1 was given by the Creator for that pi 
I impoverished and made worthless. I 
abandoned, and virgin soil taken up af 
' in the same way impoverished. And V 
I basis of national greatness and glory i 
' and the energies of a people are paisi 
[grading its labor. Mr. Jefferson, in 
i on Virginia, has given to the world it 
on society: 

" With the morals of the people their indusi 
stroycd ; for in a warm climate no man will 1; 
self who can make anoth(>r labor for him. Tl 
that of the proprietors of slaves a very sm a 
i ndeed are ever seen to labor. 

" With what execration should the statesm 
who, permitting one half the citizens thus to ti ' 

rights of the other, transforms those into desp 
into enemies, destroys the morals of the one 
amor patriie of the other." 

I trust, sir, that Jefferson, born and 
the influences of slavery, will not be 
a fanatic for his views of the instituti 
myself, I have no sentimentalities, 



those which man should ever feel for the miseries 
and woes of his race, on the subject of slavery as 
it exists in the States. If it be a good, those who 
have it are entitled to all its blessings; if an evil, 
• they alone have to answer for it to their own con- 
sciences, to the public opinion of the world, and 
to their God . I would leave it, then , to the people 
among whom it exists to devise, in their own 
time and in their own way, the mode and manner 
of its removal. That is a problem with the solu- 
tion of which I tax not my brain. It has taxed 
in vain the wisdom and ingenuity of some of tlie 
wisesi.and ablest statesmen of the Republic. 

Wh; n, therefore, we find an institution that once 
plantc.' among a people they are unable to devise 
any means to get rid ol', even though they desire 
to do so, should we not hesitate in doing any act 
by whieh it would be fastened upon a people v/ho 
have it not, and who ^vould be much better with- 
out it.' Would the people of Kansas, if left to 
their own free choice, to-day choose the institu- 
tion of slavery instead of free institutions.' 

It is .said that the objectof the bill organizing the 
Territory was to leave the people to do as they 
please. The people of Kansas to do as they 
please, when there is not an officer of the Terri- 
tory in whose election they have had a voice, and 
cannot have for two years to come ! The people 
of Kansas to do as they please, when by force 
you trample down their ballot-boxes, and deprive 
them of the free exercise of the elective franchise ! 
You have imposed on them a Legislature which 
has enacted laws striking down the dearest rights 
of freemen; and you call it law and order to sus- 
tain the invasion, and enforce its enactments. 

And after tiie people of Kansas have been dis- 
franchised at the ballot-box, and they have been 
deprived of their rights because they undertake 
to demand a redress of their grievances at the 
hands of the only body that can give it — the 
Congress of the United States — armed men are to 
be called in to shoot them down. Are the citizens 
of Kansas competent to take care of themselves.' 
If so, why import men from other States to en- 
force their laws .' The fact that men are imported 
to execute the laws of the Legislature is conclu- 
sive that those laws do not meet with the ajDpro- 
bation of a majority of the people. 

Und«r these circumstances, what is the duty 
of Congress .' Is it their duty to sit quietly by 
ajid behold these altercations in the Territory, 
without devising any means to avoid them.' Is 
it the duty of Congres.s, which embodies the 
sentiments of this whole Republic, to sit quietly 
by and allow the institution of slavery to extend 
itself into territory under its exclusive j nrisdiction , 
and which was once consecrated by solemn act 
to freedom. In 1819, Louis McLane, of Dela- 
ware, during the discussion in the Senate that 
preceded the jiassage of theMissouri compromise, 
though himself a slaveholder and from a slave 
State, declared that — 

"Nothing can more i,'laddcn the liean t!ian Uie contem- 
plation of a portion of territory consecrated to freedom, 
whoso soil should never be nioistonnd by the tear of tlie 
slave or degraded by tlie step of Uid oppressor or the op- 
pressed." 

But, to-day, the soil whose contemplating so 
gladdened the patriotic heart is not only moistened 
with the tear of the slave, but Is threatened to be 
drenched v/ith fraternal blood. In this crusade 



to propag:aic slavery, not only by changing die 
construction given to the Constitution i'or more 
than half a century, but by force of arms, permit 
me to call your attention to the almost dying 
counsel of one of the country's most illustrious 
names. Though born and reared under southern 
influences, it is a sentiment that will find a cordial 
response in the patriot heart everywhere, and is 
worthy to be inscribed on his tombstone. In 
discussing the compromise measures on the 5th 
of February, 1850, as if foreboding the present 
hour in his country's history, Mr. Clay said: 

" But if, unliappily, we should he involved in war be- 
tween the two parts of this Confederacy, in wliich the effort 
upon the one side should he to restrain the introduction of 
slavery into the new Territories, and upon the other side to 
force its introduction there, what a spectacle should we 
present, to the astonishment of mankind, in an effort, not 
to propagate rights, but — I must say it, though I trust it will 
be understood to he said with no design to excite feeling 
— a war to propagate wrongs in the Territories thus acquired 
from Mexico. It would bs a war in which rve should have no 
sympathies, no good wishes — in which our own history itself 
would be against us ; for, from the commencement of the 
Revolution down to the present time, we have constantly 
reproached our British ancestors for the introduction of 
slavery into tliis country." 

From the tomb comes the voice of your sainted 
dead, to rebuke the efforts making to-day to es- 
tablish slavery upon the soil of Kansas; and is 
it for the freemen of this country to turn a deaf 
ear not only to the safe counsels of the venerated 
dead, but to stand in indifference to the best inter- 
ests of the future .' Will you carry into Kansas 
the institution of slavery under the protection of 
the flag of your country .' For it is for Congress 
to say what shall be done, and what kind of insti- 
tutions shall exist there during its territorial ex- 
istence. 

On some future occasion I hope to have an 
opportunity to discuss at length the constitu- 
tional power of Congress over the Territories; but 
at this time the only proper inquiry is, what is 
the cause of the unprecedented state of affairs in 
Kansas, and what can be done to save that people 
from bloodshed and civil war .' 

The President in his annual message, after 
reviewing the slavery question, closes with this 
rather singular summary of the cause of the 
present excitement at the North: 

" If the passionate rage of fanaticism and partisan spirit 
did not force the fact upon our attention, it would be diffi- 
cult to believe that any considerable portion of the people 
of tliis enlightened country could have surrendered them- 
selves to a fuiiatical devotion to the supposed interests of 
the relatively few Africans in the United States, aa totally 
to abandon and disregard the iiitercsts of the twenty-five 
millions of Americans." 

The art of the lawyer and the politician is ever 
to associate names made odious in the public mind 
with what they wish to destroy, and upon them 
attempt to excite the prejudice of men. 

Sir, the men of the North have not surrendered 
themselves to a fanatical devotion to the supposed 
interests of the relatively feio iflfricans in the United 
States, but they desire to gladden the heart of the 
patriot forever with the " coiitemplation of a por- 
tion of territory consecrated to freedom, whose 
soil shall never be moistened by the tear of the 
slave, or degraded by the step^f the oppressor 
or oppressed." 



8 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



The rights of tlie citizens of Kansas are the 
rights of the twenty-ftve miUioiis of Jlmericans, 
and the wrongs of the one should be adopted as 
the wrongs of the other. If the rights of one 
man in this country can be trampled upon by 
legislative enactment, the rights of all may. 
When men are disfranchised by law, and deprived 
of their nearest and dearest rights, and that law 
rests upon the Government of the country for its 
validity and its sanction, it comes home to the 
bosom of every person, no matter in what part 
of the Republic ho lives; and he who would set 
quietly down and permit wrong and injustice to 
be done to a citizen of the country when he could 
prevent it, is guilty of a gross deri'liction of duty. 

The freemen of Kansas are entitled to your 
protection. They are entitled to your protection 
against invasion at the ballot-box, to your protec- 
tion against unjust laws which violate all their 
rights, your protection in the freedom of speech 
and the press. The supervision of all their legis- 
lation being under the control of Congress, let it, 
then , do its duty, and remove from the people these 
odious enactments which the President has de- 
clared must be enforced, and secure to them tlie 




016 088 928 7 



free and ui 
and privilc 
The me; 
attempt to 
institutions 
making to 

legislating for the Territories, the effort t' 
verse the decision of the courts making sh 
a local, sectional institution, resting upon 
law for its support, and to nationalize i 
throwing over it the shield and the protectii 
the Constitution and the Union, wherever i( 
beyond the jurisdiction of the local laws v 
gave it support, — it is against this doctrine 
the men of the North war, and not in heht 
" the relatively few Africans" in the cou' 
Their condition, however deplorable in the S 
where they exist, is beyond our reach. Wo . 
therefore leave them to those who liave the 
trol of the laws under which they live. Bt 
insist that the flag of the Union shall flof 
heretofore, the emblem of freedom, and undi 
folds, everywhere, the freedom of speccli ai 
the press, and the inalienable rights of men, 
be protected. 



Printed at tbc Coiisrcseional Globe Office. 



\ 



UBRARV OF 



CONGRESS 







